Afrikaners

Afrikaners

Daniel Malan Andries Pretorius • Daniel Malan • Jan Smuts Petrus Jacobus Joubert
Regions with significant populations
South Africa, Namibia
Languages
Afrikaans
Religion
Christian Protestant (Calvinist)
Related ethnic groups
Baster, Coloured, Dutch, English, French, Frisians, Flemish, Germans, Griquas, Scottish, Irish, Walloons

For other uses, see the South African ethnic group.

Afrikaners are an ethnic group primarily associated with Southern Africa and the Afrikaans language.

History

Origins of ethnic group

Afrikaners are descended from northwestern European settlers, mainly coming from the Netherlands, and religious refugees who lived in the Cape of Good Hope during the period of administration (1652-1795) by the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) and the subsequent period of British rule, including primarily Dutch Calvinists and Flemish as well as German Protestants, French Huguenots, Frisians, and Walloons.

File:JanVanRiebeckArrival.jpg

Romanticised painting of an account of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck.

The original colony at the Cape, which was started as a refreshment station for the Dutch East India Company, was first settled by the Dutch in 1652. The arrival in 1688 of a small group of French Huguenots who were fleeing religious persecution in France infused new blood and swelled the settlers' numbers. Some settlers from other parts of Europe (e.g. Scandinavia and the British Isles) also joined the ranks of the Afrikaners.

The first person recorded to refer to himself as an "Afrikaner" (simply meaning African) was Hendrik Biebouw who, in March of 1707, stated that he was an African and did not want to leave Africa, after his expulsion from the Cape Colony was ordered by the magistrate of Stellenbosch.

Non-Europeans (including Malay, Malagasy, South Indian, Khoi and Bantu) supposedly make up around 5-7% of Afrikaner ancestry, even though this might not have any physical or readily visible manifestation. Mixed Afrikaner/non-Europeans with observable non-European phenotypes are considered a part of the "Coloured" group, even if the Afrikaner ancestry predominates in their background in accordance with the One-drop theory (or one drop rule). This principle was also practiced in the United States, but has been declared unlawful in that country since 1967.

Afrikaners are also frequently referred to as 'Boers', both by themselves and others. 'Boer' literally means 'farmer', but its precise meaning inside South Africa can be ambiguous, and tends to shift depending on the context and the way in which the word is said. It has been used pejoratively, and for that reason 'Afrikaner' is usually a better term.

Migrations

Great Trek

Main article: Great Trek

In the 1830s and 1840s an estimated 12,000 Voortrekkers migrated to the future Northern Cape, Natal and Orange Free State provinces in order to escape from relentless border wars with the Xhosa tribe, and British authority and colonialism, including Anglicization policies. The migrants also sought fertile farmland as good land was becoming scarce within the colony's frontier. This event split the Afrikaner population: the Trekboer-descended Afrikaners participating in the exodus were later called 'Voortrekkers', while the Afrikaners centered mainly in the western Cape who remained, were misleadingly referred to by British settlers as the 'Cape Dutch'.

File:TrekBoerPortrait.jpg

Trekboers in the Karoo.

While some historians claim that this series of mass migrations, later known as the Great Trek, was partly caused because the Boers did not agree with the British restrictions on slavery, most Trekboers did not own slaves, unlike the Cape Dutch, their more affluent cousins in the western Cape who did not migrate. The vast majority of Voortrekkers were Trekboers from the Eastern Cape who engaged in pastoralism. Nevertheless, the British promulgation of Ordinance 50 in 1828, which guaranteed equal rights before the law to all "free persons of colour", and the outlawing of inhumane treatment of workers, were indeed factors in Boer discontent, as is well documented by numerous contemporary sources. The three republics founded by the Voortrekkers prohibited slavery itself, but enshrined racial inequality in their constitutions, as enforced by the British in all their colonies.

During the Great Trek the Voortrekkers fought against the Zulus, with war erupting when Trek leaders Piet Retief and Gerhard Maritz, along with their delegation, were lured to the royal residence under the pretence of a land treaty and massacred by King Dingane and his warriors or Impi, who administered the best land in some of the areas in which the Boers wished to settle. Retief and the local Voortrekkers had performed several deeds for Dingane, including returning stolen cattle taken by a rival chief named Sekonyela, and finalised the treaty in which the Voortrekkers were granted lands in Dingane's kingdom before Dingane changed his mind. After murdering Piet Retief’s delegation, the Zulu Impis immediately attacked the Boer women and children who had been left behind by the delegation at Blaauwkrans and Weenen, killing all the women and children, amounting to half of the Natal contingent of Voortrekkers.

These attacks evoked retaliation, with the 470-strong force of Andries Pretorius taking on over 10,000 Zulu warriors who attacked their prepared positions at the Battle of Blood River. The Boers suffered only 3 injuries and no fatalities while 3000 Zulus were slain (turning the river red with blood). This could be partially attributed to the Boers' use of guns over the Zulu traditional weapons; the Boers however attributed it to a vow they made to God before the battle that if victorious, they and future generations would commemorate the day as a Sabbath. Thus 16 December was celebrated by Afrikaners as a public holiday called the Day of the Vow. It is still a public holiday, but the name was changed to the Day of Reconciliation by the post-apartheid ANC government, in order to foster reconciliation between all South Africans.

Boer republics

Main article: Boer Republics

After the defeat of the Zulu forces and the recovery of the treaty between Dingane and Retief, the Voortrekkers proclaimed the Natalia Republic. This Boer state was annexed by British forces in 1843.

Due to the return of British rule, emphasis moved from occupying lands in Natal, east of the Drakensberg mountains, to the north-west of them and onto the highveld (steppes) of the Transvaal and Transorangia (Transoranje), which were lightly occupied due to the devastation of the Mfecane. Some trekkers ventured far beyond the present day borders of South Africa, north as far as present day Zambia and Angola, also reaching the Portuguese colony of Algoa Bay, modern-day Maputo, capital of Mozambique.

Lizzie van Zyl, visited by Emily Hobhouse in a British concentration camp

The Boers created independent states in what is now South Africa: de Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (the South African Republic) and the Orange Free State. The British also annexed these territories, which led to the two Boer Wars: The First Boer War (1880-1881) and the Second Boer War (1899-1902)- also called the South African War, which ended with the inclusion of the Boer areas in the British colonies. The Boers won the first war but lost the second, mainly due to the British employing scorched earth tactics, and the extensive use of concentration camps. An estimated 27,000 Boer civilians (mainly children under sixteen) died in the camps from hunger and disease. This was 15 percent of the Boer population of the republics. About 15,000 Bantu civilians died in separate concentration camps, also erected by the British forces, but due to poor records this number may be much larger.

Following the British annexation of the Boer republics, the creation of the Union of South Africa (1910) went some way towards blurring the division between the British settlers and the Afrikaners.

Boer diaspora

After the second Anglo-Boer War, an Afrikaner diaspora occurred. Starting in 1903 the largest group emigrated to the Patagonia region of Argentina. Another group emigrated to British-ruled Kenya, from where most returned to South Africa during the 1930s, while a third group under the leadership of General Ben Viljoen emigrated to Mexico and to New Mexico and Texas in the south-western USA.

South West Africa

Main article: South West Africa

With the onset of the First World War, the Union of South Africa was asked by the Allied forces to attack the German territory of South West Africa, resulting in the South-West Africa Campaign. Armed forces under the leadership of General Louis Botha defeated the German forces, who were unable to put up much resistance to the overwhelming South African forces.

Afrikaner women and children in British concentration camps.

Many Afrikaners objected to the use of the “children from the concentration camps” to attack the Afrikaner-friendly Germans, resulting in the Maritz Rebellion of 1914, which was quickly quelled by the government forces.

Some Afrikaners subsequently moved to South West Africa, which was administrated by South Africa, until its independence in 1990, after which the country was named Namibia.

Afrikaner diaspora

Since the first all-inclusive democratic elections in 1994, many well-qualified Afrikaners have been emigrating from South Africa and Namibia to "first world" countries. Most are settling in traditionally English-speaking countries, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, but many are also emigrating to Dutch-speaking countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium.

Volkstaat

The "Vryheidsvlag" (Freedom Flag)

Flag of the United Netherlands 1581 - 1795

Main article: Volkstaat

A tiny group of Afrikaners has settled in the town of Orania, with the ultimate goal of founding a Volkstaat through a process of Afrikaner demographic consolidation. Some Afrikaners feel that their language and culture face a serious threat in post-apartheid South Africa, due to the relatively small population of Afrikaners, the dominance of the English language and their lack of political power. They also fear a repeat of the events in Zimbabwe and many post-colonial one-party dictatorships, especially from the more 'radical' elements within the ruling African National Congress.

Modern history

Apartheid era

Main article: Apartheid

In South Africa, the black majority was excluded from equal participation in the affairs of the State and country (except for the homelands which were self governed, which were: Qwaqwa, Zululand, Ciskei, Transkei, Venda, Bophuthatswana) until 1994. This was due first to British colonial policies of racism and segregation and later extended and magnified due to the policy of apartheid, which was created, maintained and supported mainly by Afrikaner-led political parties starting in 1948.

The South African referendum, 1992 was held on 17 March 1992. In it, South Africans were asked to vote in the last tricameral election held under the apartheid system, in which the Coloured and Indian population groups could also vote, to determine whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by then State President F.W. de Klerk two years earlier. The result of the election was a large victory for the "yes" side. Election analysts however reported that support to dismantle Apartheid among the Afrikaners was actually slightly higher than among English speakers.

Post-Apartheid era

In recent years there has been a tendency within South Africa to describe the mixed race ("coloured") population of South Africa, most of whom speak Afrikaans as their first language, as Afrikaners or 'coloured Afrikaners'. However the Afrikaans-speakers of mixed race in South Africa and Namibia usually refer to themselves as "kleurlinge" ('coloureds') and "bruinmense" ('brown people'). "Basters" ('bastards') is a term that was formerly common but is now rarely encountered due to its pejorative nature. Other non-white Afrikaans-speaking groups are the "Griqua", "Namaqua", and "Khoikhoi".

The switch from 'coloured' to 'Afrikaner' has seen some success despite the history of exclusion during the colonial and apartheid eras. However, many Afrikaans-speaking coloureds feel they have developed a separate identity from white Afrikaners due to the strict racial segregation policies of the apartheid years, and there are marked colloquial differences between the languages as spoken by whites and Cape coloureds. Some Afrikaans-speaking coloureds also practise the Islamic religion, due to their Malay people roots.

Recently, some liberal Afrikaans-speaking South Africans and Namibians have rejected the label 'Afrikaner', because of its negative connotations of racial and religious intolerance. Some use the neologism and racially neutral term "Afrikaanses" to refer to themselves as persons whose mother tongue is Afrikaans, disregarding the supposed – and hard to define – ethnic identity or apartheid-era racial categorisation.

While some conservative Afrikaners still cherish the nametag "Boer", others view it as an obsolete and even pejorative term when used in an ethnic context.

Efforts are being made by a few Afrikaners to secure minority rights. These efforts include the Volkstaat movement. In contrast, a handful of Afrikaners have joined the ruling African National Congress party, which is overwhelmingly supported by South Africa's black majority. However, the vast majority of Afrikaners have joined white English-speakers in supporting South Africa's official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, indicating their acceptance of non-racism within a free enterprise economy.

Geography

Republic of South Africa

National flag of South Africa.

Although there is no indication of "ethnic group" or "ethnicity" in the South African census, a combination of race (white) and first language (Afrikaans) is the closest available approximation of Afrikaner. There were 2,536,906 white Afrikaans first language speakers in South Africa according to the 2001 census (1996: 2,558,956).

This population were spread across the provinces as follows according to the 2001 census:

• Eastern Cape 148,809 (1996: 154,513), forming 2.31% of total provincial population
• Free State 214,020 (1996: 279,135), forming 7.9% of the total provincial population
• Gauteng 1,003,860 (1996: 958,351), forming 11.36% of the total provincial population
• Kwazulu-Natal 116,307 (1996: 124,555), forming 1.22% of the total provincial population
• Limpopo 110,028 (1996: 98,875), forming 2.08% of the total provincial population
• Mpumalanga 170,526 (1996: 208,655), forming 5.46% of the total provincial population
• Northern Cape 93,222 (1996: 101,704), forming 11.33% of the total provincial population
• North West 218,611 (1996: 196,347), forming 5.95% of the total provincial population
• Western Cape 461,522 (1996: 436,822), forming 5.95% of the total provincial population

The fine spread of the population throughout the country was caused by the Great Trek, which took advantage of the abundance of undeveloped land in the South African interior and a steady supply of non-Afrikaner labour. This counteracted any need for Afrikaners to stay in an area equitable with their total population.

Namibia

National flag of Namibia.

There were 133,324 Afrikaners in Namibia, forming 9.5% of the total national population, according to the 1991 census. Afrikaners are mostly found in Windhoek and in the Southern provinces.

Global presence

The British Empire.

File:Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations.svg

The Commonwealth.

A significant number of Afrikaners have migrated to countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand.

A large number of young Afrikaners are taking advantage of working holiday visas made available by the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries to gain work experience. The favourable exchange rate with the South African Rand (ZAR) also increases the attractiveness of international experience.

Culture

Religion

Main article: Afrikaner Calvinism

Predominantly Christian, the Calvinism of Afrikaners in South Africa developed in a different way from its European and American counterparts. This uniqueness is generally regarded as a direct result of geographical isolation and political and cultural estrangement, which shut out the influences of the Enlightenment. The cross-currents of change which arose within the Protestant cultures of Europe in response to the eighteenth century Enlightenment had minimal effect upon the development of religious thought among the Afrikaners.

This view of Afrikaner Calvinism implies that it is a purer expression of what Calvinism originally was, without the diluting effects of the Enlightenment. Particularly, this view implies that cultural development under the influence of Afrikaner civil religion is an illustration of the cultural implications of Calvinism.

Language

Main article: Afrikaans

The Afrikaans language changed over time from the Dutch spoken by the first white settlers at the Cape. From the late 17th century, the form of Dutch spoken at the Cape developed differences in pronunciation and accent and, to a lesser extent, in syntax and vocabulary, from that of the Netherlands, although the languages are still similar enough to be mutually intelligible (with some effort). Settlers who arrived speaking German and French soon shifted to using Dutch and later Afrikaans. The process of language change was influenced by the languages spoken by slaves, Khoikhoi and people of mixed descent, as well as by Cape Malay, Zulu, English and Portuguese. While the Dutch of the Netherlands remained the official language, the new dialect, often known as Cape Dutch, African Dutch, "Kitchen Dutch," or "Taal" (meaning language in Afrikaans) developed into a separate language by the 19th century, with much work done by the Genootskap van Regte Afrikaners and other writers such as Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven. In 1925 this new language replaced standard Dutch as one of the two official languages of the Union of South Africa.

Literature

Afrikaners have a long literary tradition, and have produced a number of notable novelists and poets, including Uys Krige and Elisabeth Eybers.

Arts

Music is probably the most popular artform among Afrikaners. While the traditional Boeremusiek (Boer Music) and Volkspele (literally, People Games) folk dancing enjoyed popularity in the past, most Afrikaners today favour light popular Afrikaans music and some also enjoy a social dance event called a sokkie.

Sport

Rugby, cricket and golf are generally considered to be the most popular sports among Afrikaners. Rugby in particular is considered one of the central pillars of the Afrikaner community.

Institutions

Cultural

The Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV) (Afrikaans Language and Culture Society) is responsible for promoting the Afrikaans language and culture.

Political

The Freedom Front is an Afrikaner ethnic political party in the Republican tradition, which lobbies for minority rights to be granted to all of the South African ethnic minorities. The Freedom Front is also leading the Volkstaat initiative and is closely associated to the small town of Orania. However, this party has only minority support among Afrikaners, with most supporting the Democratic Alliance.

Classification

The term Afrikaner has different meanings according to the historical context, because the first reported usage of the term by a Dutch colonist in the 18th century to differentiate himself from Dutch citizens is clearly no longer applicable.

The classification of people into an Afrikaner ethnic group is also dependent on the historical period, and quite problematic in a modern context. The complexities surrounding this is explored in section below titled Modern.

Historical

As described earlier in the article the term was first used by the early Dutch colonists at the beginning of the 18th century. Clearly they could not constitute a distinct new ethnic group at that time, because they were first generation immigrants culturally much closer to their original ethnic groups (Dutch and later French and German). Over time this group formed a cultural identity with a shared language (Afrikaans), religion and identity, distinct from yet still related to their respective ancestors as well as later British colonial powers.

Cape Dutch

The colonists at the Cape who did not take part in the Great Trek.

Boers

Because if the resultant divide both geographically and possibly ideologically between the Cape Dutch and the participants in the Great Trek, these groups grew apart. This group comprises those who had established themselves in the eastern Cape frontier and the Republican Afrikaners who trekked inland during the Great Trek.

This distinction no longer exists, because people freely move between all areas of the South Africa. Today only regional dialects differentiate Afrikaans people from different areas, much like any other country. These dialects are however regional and more numerous than merely "Cape Dutch" or "Boer".

Modern

Currently it is difficult to classify anyone as an Afrikaner – whether as ethnic or cultural group – based solely on a combination of language and race, just as it is difficult to classify someone as Anglo-African based solely on language (English) and race.

Even if a person is of obvious European descent and speaks Afrikaans as a first language, it is difficult to claim a genealogical link to the original Afrikaners of the Cape Colony due to intermarriage with other European settlers, especially the large number of British descent, but also newer European immigrants including Italians, Portuguese and Germans, among others. A simple example of this would be a quite common occurrence of someone of British descent marrying someone of Afrikaner descent and raising their children in a bilingual home. Would these children be considered Anglo-African or Afrikaner?

The population of white or European Afrikaans first-language speakers are also far from homogenous with regard to religion, politics or cultural practices. The last census of 2001, reported a "white" population of 4.4 million, of which 2.5 million spoke Afrikaans as a first language and 1.4 million belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church (traditionally a church associated with Afrikaners, see Afrikaner Calvinism). From these numbers it is clear that a combinations of factors have to be taken into account and these factors vary for each person as there no one-to-one relationship between language, race, religion and ethnicity.

Even Afrikaner historian Hermann Giliomee described the classification – perhaps casually – as: (Afrikaans) "enige iemand wat lief is vir die land en wat lief is vir Afrikaans" (English: "anyone who loves the land and who loves Afrikaans").

Another typical comment on the question of the supposed "Afrikaner" ethnic group from Harald Pakendorf an Afrikaans journalist: "To have a debate about Afrikaners seems almost absurd. Which Afrikaners? Who is an Afrikaner? Who will speak on their behalf? Hopefully, there will never be a debate about Afrikaners again. They are not separate enough from the rest of South Africa to be discussed as such."

White nationalism

Main article: White nationalism

Another context for the current (in democratic South Africa post 1994) efforts to establish a clear and distinct ethnic group called "Afrikaner", is that of a small conservative group seeking self determination in the form of an independent country or territory which they call a Volkstaat. In order to be counted as a valid instances of ethnic nationalism, these groups must establish the existence of an easily identifiable and homogenous ethnic group, because such a territory derives its legitimacy from the fact that it is a homeland for such an ethnic group.

Instances of ethnic nationalism which include a "white" race qualification or component is referred to as white nationalism. Such white nationalist groups often rely on controversial (sometimes called pseudo science) fields of study such as race science, population genetics and eugenics.

It is to this political background of an attempt at self determination that many descriptions or definitions of "Afrikaner" must be viewed. One example is the official newspaper of the right wing political party, the Herstigte Nasionale Party (HNP), with the Afrikaans Die Afrikaner (English: "The Afrikaner"). It declares its goal as the "unashamed promotion of afrikaner nationalism". The modern context of Afrikaner nationalism for the term "Afrikaner" is therefore unquestionable.

See also

• Afrikaner Calvinism
• Afrikaner cattle
• Anglo-Africans
• Afrikaner-Jews
• Whites in South Africa
• Boers
• Cape Coloureds
• Cape Dutch
• Cape Malay
• Culture of South Africa
• List of notable Afrikaners
• Orania
• South African farm attacks
• Trekboers
• Volkstaat
• Voortrekkers

External links

• 2001 Digital Census Atlas
• Afrikaner Nationalism Captures The State.
• The Afrikaners of South Africa.
• Template:Fr icon Afrique du Sud
• Template:Fr icon mSN Encarta
• Boer soldiers
• British Policies and Afrikaner Discontent
• The genetic heritage of one Afrikaner family
• Afrikaans Wiki
• ATKV - Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging